The school and university book market - France

1.2 Market structure and trends

Statistics on the school and university book market are data derived from the more general book market

The European textbook market has been growing since ****.

To understand the current evolution of this market in Europe, the Federation of European Publishers (***) - representing ** national associations of publishers from the European Union and the Member States of the European Economic Area - provides aggregate survey data.

Since ****, the book market has been growing slowly after being impacted by the last financial crisis For these ** countries, in ****, the total annual market turnover represented approximately €** billion and increased to €**.* billion in ****

Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy are the main markets in terms of publishers' turnover. Publishers' textbooks represent almost **% of book sales revenue, a slightly higher trend than in previous years. Consequently, it can be estimated that the annual turnover for textbooks is about *.** billion in ****.

A growing market in France but which slows down in ****

In France, in ****, revenue reached €*.*** billion (***). The turnover even reached *.*** billion euros in **** before declining in **** to *.*** billion euros.

The number of books published was ***,*** (***).

Number of books sold at least once a year France, ****-****, in units Source: ****

Book sales in volume and year-on-year evolution France, ...

1.3 The strong French market

In **** the turnover of the textbook market in France was *** million euros, amounting to ** euros per second. This includes all educational levels, including primary and secondary school up to university level. This number represented a grand total of **.*% of the editorial market share in terms of value in that year. To be more precise, a total of ** *** *** individual text books were sold that year, representing **% of the volume of books sold in France [***]

Change in revenue by editorial segment France, ****, by % [***]

  Market share by editorial segment France, ****, by value % [***]  

Over half of textbook purchases concern secondary school, **% concern primary schools, while **% of book purchases are completed by university and professional lycée students.  

Breakdown of textbook purchases by educational level France, ****, by % [***]

 Within these figures extracurricular textbooks are also included. While these represent **% of sales in terms of volume they only represent **% in terms of value [***].

Textbook editors and producers in France face multiple challenges. Their primary business model is being challenged by the creeping up of the digitalisation of society, especially in the educational sector. Physical textbooks, while still popular are diminishing in number and editors need to find a balance and adapt themselves to this new reality. ...

1.4 The Francophone world, a natural market

French editorial houses have had significant international success, particularly in titles for younger readers, comic books and fiction. These three categories alone account for **% of titles sold in ****, a figure that is stable compared with previous years.

French books are also quite successful in terms of translation with almost **.*** different books translated. However the activity abroad of French publishing houses decreased by *% in ****. Chinese is language in which most French books are translated, followed by Italian and Spanish. 

Countries in which French books are translated World, **** in individual book titles Source: ****

It is quite understandable, however, that school and university textbooks are not widely diffused or translated abroad with each national educational system having their own books, methods and cultural pedagogical appraoches. French textbooks made up less than *% of all translated books in ****.

Editorial segment of French books translated World, ****, in individual book titles Source: ****

  Editorial segment of translated French books World, ****, in %  

From **** to **** the number French translated textbooks increased from *.*% to *.*% (***) [***].

Regarding French textbook translations, Chinese is the language in which they are most translated in with *** of the *** translated textbooks being translated in that language. Chinese was also the language with the highest number of translation contracts, ...

1.5 The Impact of COVID-19

The publishing houses the produce school and university textbooks are largely diversified within the publishing sector (***). Like most companies in France and throughout the world, they were not spared the economic impacts of the COVID-** pandemic. The National Editorial Syndicate conducted a survey at the end of the first confinement in May and the results were shocking:

Over a quarter of publishing houses say they lost over **% of their turnover in **** One in five editors asked for state funded relief to stay afloat during the crisis More than **% of publishers took up different selling methods (***) On average, editors have decided to cancel **% of new titles that were expected for **** 

Overall the publishing market shrank by *% compared to ****. More specifically in ****, *** million euros were lost over the first period of confinement, *** million euros were gained in the months following, ** million euros were lost in November due to the second confinemet, while *** million euros were gained in December (***) [***].

Comic book sales grew by *% in ****, literatture shrank by a meager *.*% while unsuprisingly tourism guides, travel books and maps shrank between ** and **% compared to **** [***].

Naturally, publishing houses saw an increase in e-book sales over the months in which people were confined, and a slight increase ...

2.1 Different establishments: primary, middle & high schools and universities

Obviously, textbooks are overwhelmingly used in school and universities by students and teachers. 

In **** in France there were *.***.*** million people directly employed in the education sector. ***.*** of these were teachers in educational establishments of which ***.*** in public institutions and ***.*** in private ones. ***.*** of these exercise extra-educational functions (***)

In France there are **.*** *nd degree educational establishments of which **.*** are primary schools, *.*** are middle schools and *.*** are high schools. There are also *.*** universities and institutes of higher educations (***)

Breakdown in types educational establishments France, ****, in # of establishments Source: ****

Within *nd degree institutions there are a total of **.***.*** students which are broken down in the following manner:

*.***.*** million in primary schools *.***.*** million in middle schools *.***.*** are in high schools ***.*** are in apprenticeships ***.*** are in agricultural and health ministerial studies

Breakdown of student body by type of educational establishment France, ****, in thousands of students Source: ****

Of these, **.***.*** are in publically run and funded establishments

Student attendance by school funding (***) France, ****, in thousands of students Source: ****

As of ****, in the *.*** universities in France there were an all-time high of *.* million students enrolled in higher education courses, of which almost **% were not French.

Each teacher chooses their own curriculum and therefore their own textbooks. Considering over ...

2.2 New curricula & back to school

The book market is quite unpredictable with fluctuating sales. Publishers try to anticipate these but it is ultimately out of their control. However there is one phenomenon that reproduces itself every three or fours years that results in an absolute certainty of sales and results in significant revenues: the announcement of educational and curricular reforms for school textbooks. The imposition of new textbooks in classes generates accentuated peaks in productivity [***]

These periods of are particularly tense in terms of editorial production, since the publisher has to respect a very tight schedule: 'specimens' (***) must be sent to schools from April-May, otherwise they will not be "seen" by teachers, and therefore not bought. Production, which takes around a year, must be launched as soon as possible [***]

This extreme anticipation is due to the particularity of the economic model of the school sector, which differentiates it so much from other publishing sectors: instead of being aimed at a single public, both buyer and user, school books are aimed at three types of target. While they are intended for use by pupils and teachers (***), they are chosen collectively within schools by all the teachers of each subject, who must therefore agree on them together in ...

2.3 Geographical distribution

The demand for school textbooks is correlated with the geographical distribution of students. Île-de-France is the region with the highest number of students, of all levels, counting almost **% of students in France (***).

The map below illustrates the geographical distribution of students in Metropolitan France. Île-de-France being the richest and most populated of regions, is clearly one of the biggest national markets for textbooks.

*.*% of students in France are in Overseas departments (***), which, however, are not included in this map.

Source: ****

3.1 Giants at the top

There are a little more than ** editors in this sector of which over two thirds produce textbooks exclusively on specific school subjects (***), while the rest are very diversified producing textbooks for all subjects and for all classes.

With new curriculums being issued every few years editorial houses that produce textbooks have their work cut out for them. Six editing houses have consolidated a large majority of this market:

Bordas (***) **% Nathan (***) *% Hachette (***) **.* Hatier (***) **.*% Magnard (***) *.*% Belin **%

Market share by publishing house France, ****, in % Source: ****

School textbooks have changed a lot since they were first conceptualised in ****, however their main producers have pretty much stayed them. The six largest player in this market have a historical presence in the editing and manufacturing of school textbooks. Belin and Hachette were established in the middle of the **th century, Haitier and Nathan in **** and ****, respectively. Magnard was created in **** and the latest comer to the textbook game was Bordas in **** [***].

The dominance of these * companies in the textbook market can be explained in several ways:

Being long established brands they have historical legitimacy, name recognition and customer loyalty (***) Each of these brands has an area of expertise or something they are known for in their textbooks ...

3.2 The advent of the digital sphere

The digital textbook is a relatively new and untapped market that is attracting a lot of interest. **** was the first year in which digital played a significant role in education, with the curricular reforms and the integration of a concrete digitalised educational plan at national level. This resulted in over ** million outdated and obsolete textbooks at all school levels. However the integration of digital textbooks is not as straighforward as it may seem. Rather than an abrupt shift towards the complete digitalisation of textbooks, the preferred adopted strategy is that of a 'transitional working environment' [***]. This includes, naturally, digital textbooks but also multimedia content (***), online journal and encyclopedia databases, dictionaries and thesauruses, online assessment and management tools for professors etc. This different toolbox allows for a greater degree of personalisation and malleability of lessons and cirricula, which teachers are tending to favour and adopt.

The digital offer in French schools is constantly developing: in **** Les Éditeurs d'Education association counted *** digital titles available in total, * years on, and after the scolastic reform, the same association listed *.*** digital textbooks and *.*** other digital titles (***) [***]

The market however still remains quite modest with less than *% of the revenue of textbooks being digital textbooks (***) half of ...

3.3 Buying and selling: different locations and methods

The classic distribution method of books, from author to reader, is illustrated in the graphic below. It is not different regarding textbooks.

Source: ****

There are * main selling locations for books in France:

Level * libraries (***) Level * libraries + internet + specialised selling locations (***) Large specialised surfaces (***) Supermarkets and hypermarkets with book sections)

Source: ****

Most sales occur in level * libraries and online as well as in large specialised surfaces, followed by level * libraries and then supermarkets/hypermarkets

Market share and evolution in selling locations for books France, ****, in % Source: ****

Regarding online sales they accounted only for *.*% (***) of total book sales in France in **** and more specifically *.**% of school textbooks and **.*% of university textbooks are bought online.

Online sales added up to ***.* million euros in ****. **% of revenues regarding university textbooks came from online purchases, compared to *% for secondary and primary school textbooks.

Partition of the revenue for digital book sales by editorial segment France, ****, by % Source: ****

4.1 Pricing depends on many parameters

The price of books is the result of several factors, including some of the costs (***) of the production chain - authors, publishers, producers, distributors, retailers, copyright and author's rights, design, length, author's reputation, VAT of *.*% for books and e-books in France, raw materials and machinery, paper, ink and machine depreciation, amont others [***].

As a consequence, the result is a very wide price range . The same applies to textbooks - prices can vary from a few euros to a hundred euros

As for retailers, the Lang Law (***) practice - in order to guarantee the conditions for publishing a wide variety of books other than bestsellers - namely to reduce price competition as regards the quality and profitability of booksellers, even among distribution SMEs [***].

In addition, the French State supports education as a national policy. In schools, textbooks are provided free of charge in primary school (***), but students are required to pay one when they attend high school

For the second and third year of high school, in the period ****-**** The cost of renting textbooks is approximately €*** and €*** respectively, including the deposit and membership of the association (***). The prices of new books range from ***€ to ***€, with the region contributing directly at a ...

4.2 Typology of the offer

In **** **.*** million individual textbooks for secondary educational establishments were sold in France for a total of *** million euros. This accounted for **.*% of the market share in terms of value and **% in terms of volume. 

These can be categorised in * different ways:

General textbooks for secondary education (***) Technical and professional textbooks for technical and professional apprenticeships Superior technical textbooks Extracurricular textbooks Preparatory classes and pedagogical training textbooks Pre-school and primary textbooks

Source: ****

Source: ****

In **** a total of **.*** textbooks were printed for sale (***) were re-prints of already existing editions. These represented almost **% of all titles printed that year. Based on the * categories mentioned above, **** production in terms of titles is broken down in the following table:

Source: ****

In **** a total of **.*** million of textbooks were printed representing. Of these **.*** million were new edition textbooks and **.*** million were re-prints of already existing editions. New textbooks represented **.*% of all new books printed that year, while textbook re-prints represented **.*% of all re-prints in France that year.

Source: ****

5.1 French legislation benefits the market

In France, government policies such as free public schools, compulsory schooling up to the age of **, scholarships for students from low-income families, curriculum changes, contributions and grants (***) create an environment that allows for high enrollment rates and assured enrollment up to at least secondary level. Consequently, high participation rates support the economy by creating a basis for a strong demand for textbooks and reduce the need for publishers to lower their prices. In addition, the "Lang" law protects and preserves the entire book market by setting book prices [***]. This flexible and effective tool supports the operation of the book industry as a trade agreement between publishers and booksellers, both for printed and electronic books. The fixed price of paper books is maintained for up to two years after publication (***), with a maximum reduction of *% for consumers and *% for libraries On the other hand, since ****, a new amendment to the law has prohibited booksellers from offering the *% discount granted to stores, allowing only a discount on shipping costs - which must in no case exceed *% of the value of the order. Finally, the regulatory framework also establishes rules relating to intellectual property, such as copyright and royalties To this extent, French copyright ...

6.1 Segmentation

The book market in France is considered highly concentrated since few companies hold most of the market share. In addition, the market appears to be vertically integrated, so most companies are publishers, manufacturers, distributors and, in some cases, retailers. In fact, large publishing houses tend to integrate the production and distribution of books and sell to the public, either at the wholesale level or to private retailers, or by directly creating their own bookstore franchise - for example Hachette Nevertheless, on the market, there are a few independent publishers who, despite competition, base their activity on selected authors or on a less common or less known book production

New entrants to the market tend to position themselves in the e-book business, whether it is textbooks or ordinary books. Therefore, the French book market is mainly divided into two main segments:

a mature market, recently challenged by new entrants in the e-book sector a niche market

By defining the analysis around the university textbook, in France, two major publishing houses and presses hold the majority of the market shares: Presses Universitaires de France (***). As a result, the educational book market can also be divided into three main segments with books for: primary ...

• Presses Universitaires de france PUF (Humensis)
• Presses universitaires de Rennes
• Hachette Jeunesse
• EDITIONS DU SEUIL
• CEPAD
• Hatier (Hachette Groupe)
• EDITIONS DE L'HOMME SANS NOM
• Gibert Joseph
• HUMENSIS
• Media Participations
• Sejer (Groupe Editis)
• Editis
• Magnard
• Nathan (Editis groupe)
• Bordas (Editis)
• Retz Editions (Editis)
• Le Robert (Editis))
• Didier Editions (Hatier Hachette)
• L'Étudiant Groupe
• Dunod (Lagardère Groupe)
• Armand Colin Dunod Editions (Lagardère groupe)
• Editions De Boeck Supérieur (Albin Michel groupe)
• CSP (Lebfevre Sarrut Groupe)
• EDITIONS LEFEBVRE SARRUT